Power drops below 2,800mw – NERC

Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC has said that power supply through the national grid which peaked to 5000mw in past two weeks had dropped below 2,800mw due to vandalism.
Dr. Anthony Akah, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the commission disclosed this while signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Consumer Protection Council CPC.
A statement issued on the ceremony by Dr. Usman Abba- Arabi, Head, Public Affairs Department of NERC was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN on Wednesday in Abuja.
In the statement, Akah expressed dissatisfaction and worries over the spate of vandalism in the power sector.
It stated that the NERC boss enjoined the public and the CPC to collaborate with Distribution Companies DISCOs, and security agencies to safeguard electrical installations.
The statement also said that the NERC would soon compel the DISCOs to publish their meter deployment schedules.
It added that the publication would ensure adherence to the meter roll out plan contained in the performance agreement signed with government by the utility firms.
“Such publication will make unmetered customers to be aware of the estimated period they have to wait before they can be metered,’’ it stated
It stated that NERC had issued warning to the DISCOs against wrongful estimated billings and the acts of compelling customers to buy, install and repair transformers and poles.
The statement said the MoU between, NERC and CPC was part of concerted efforts to reduce the incidence of estimated billing completely.
According to the statement, the Director General of CPC, Mrs. Modupe Atoki, commended NERC for the long standing relationship between the two agencies.
Atoki, according to the statement, expressed CPC’s cooperation and renewed effort to protect electricity consumers from abuse of their rights.

Power generation rebounds to 4200MW
However, the Transition Company of Nigeria, TCN, yesterday said that power generation increased to 4200mw after a drop last week due to system collapse caused by series of vandalism that affected some of the nation’s plants.
Asst. General Manager Public Affairs, System Operations of TCN Clement Ezeolisah in the statement said that generation experienced a drop to an average of 3,755mw last week following scheduled maintenance programme on the gas pipelines supplying gas to the generating stations. However, power generation has started improving and is now over 4200mw on daily average.
It would be recalled that the nation recorded the peak generation of 5074mw on the 2nd of February, but the daily operational report, including the national statistics on generation profile obtained yesterday indicated that about 20 power stations are operational out of the 25 power facilities in the country.
No fewer than seven power plants were affected by gas constraints.
These are Olorunshogo NIPP GT1-4 and ST2 units 600mw; Sapele NIPP GT 3&4 225MW; Omotosho GT2-4 and 6 152MW; Geregu NIPP GT21 and 23 290mw; Delta GT9, 10, 11, 18 and 19 260mw; Olorunsogo GT2-4 and 8 units 152mw; and Ihovbor GT4 112.5mw.
The Olorunsogo power station operated under the National Independent Power Projects NIPP was also reportedly shut down due to gas constraint and maintenance programme, reducing power generation by 600mw.
Besides, some of the 20 operational plants also have some units shut due to gas limitations, water shortage, transmission constraints and maintenance. This has however brought the unutilised generation capability to 2146.5mw.